Barack Obama was president even before he became commander-in-chief when he held the office at the Harvard Law Review as a younger man. Video of Obama speaking as the organization's president at a university protest calling for more diversity among faculty surfaced during the 2012 campaign and showed the president's trademark delivery.
Defending his mentor, Professor Derek Bell, Obama joked about his credentials.
"How has he accomplished all this, he hasn't done it simply by his good looks and easy charm," he said to laughter. "Although he has both in ample measure."
Andrea Mitchell, host of Andrea Mitchell Reports pointed out that the speech from 1991 touched on issues of race and gender that Obama continues to confront to this day.
Up next on msnbc's most viewed, the comment that alienated 47% of the electorate, and then some.